Microstructuri urbane efemere: bâlciurile din Călărași
Ephemeral Urban Microstructures: the Fairs in Călărași

Summary/Abstract: The emergence of periodic fairs/markets – that were supported by a protective legal regime during the 16th and 18th centuries – in Wallachia and Moldova was demanded by the necessity of villages and cities to source products both locally and from foreign fairs through the aid of merchants. Fairs were often arranged around monasteries or princely courts in Wallachia. Permission to organize such fairs was conditioned by the ability to generate an advantageous profit and by their placement which had to be in the proximity of important commerce roads or large production centers and the organization had to be renewed annually by the ruler of the country. The 19th century brought novel economic and structural perspectives with regards to the development of cities. The supply and demand of products increased at the same rate as the city’s population, bringing about an increased diversity in shops and markets as an attempt to solve the problem of stocking. Fairs continue to be organized because of the social and information-based functions that were complementary to its commercial component. The fair, as an organized space, polarized attention, submerging its participants within a strong, sensorial flux of information (olfactory, gustatory, etc.). It was a place of exchanges for those interested in understanding a particular area beyond its socio-geographical aspect, a place where economic, social, and artistic knowledge was perpetually disseminated. In this atmosphere of celebration, those who came to the fair noticed the existence of a reality that had previously been unknown to them. This alternate reality quickly adhered to the memory of visitors and was subsequently retold, upon returning home, under the generic phrase: “I saw [it] at the fair!”

• Details
• Contents